Three cheers for Brazil

Kochi: It’s festive season in India and the Brazilian U-17 side didn’t want to miss out on the occasion. They did what they know best as they feasted on a hapless Honduras side to register an emphatic 3-0 win here at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium on Wednesday. Brazil’s commanding win has now set them up for a mouth-watering quarterfinal clash against Germany in Kolkata on Sunday.

Brenner scored twice for Brazil while Marcos Antonio found himself on the scoresheet for the first time in the tournament.

The result of the last of the pre-quarters was never in doubt once the game began. It was all one-way traffic and the gulf between the two sides was evident in the manner in which the Brazilians toyed with their opponents, especially in the first hour or so. The only time Brazilian goal was threatened was when Honduras tried to test goalkeeper Gabriel Brazao through their long-range efforts and on two occasions, they were unlucky to be denied by the woodwork.

It didn’t take too long for Brazil to find their first goal. The goal was credited to Brenner but it was Brazil’s livewire in the DOING IT IN STYLE: midfield Alan who did the spade work for the opener. In the 11th minute, a Victor Bobsin cross from the middle of the field found Marcus Antonio free on the right wing, who in turn fed the ball to Alan. Alan indulged in a neat interplay with Wesley and the latter released his partner into the box with a defence-splitting pass. Alan found an unmarked Brenner near the goalpost with a perfect through ball and he needed no second invitation to slot the ball into the net GOING FOR GLORY: and put Brazil 1-0 ahead.

Alan gave Honduras defence plenty of headaches in the first quarter of an hour and in the 21st minute, he tested the Honduras goalkeeper with a sharp leftfooted shot but Alex Rivera was equal to the task and parried it away for a corner.

Honduras’s attacks to their rival penalty area were few and far between. But they came close to scoring in the 32d minute when their midfielder Luis Palma unleashed a powerful right- footer from a tight angle inside the box but unfortunately for Honduras it ricocheted off the right post.

At the stroke of half-time, Brazil doubled their lead. Paulinho had the Honduras defence caught napping with a perfect through ball and Antonio beat the Honduras goalkeeper with a perfectly placed left-footed shot from the left side of the penalty area.

Eleven minutes into the second half, Brenner put the game beyond Honduras by scoring his second goal of the match. A lobbed pass into the box saw the ball bouncing off Wesley’s shoulder and it fell nicely for Brenner who managed to tap into the net.

With a three-goal cushion, Brazil substituted Alan, who was on a yellow card and from then on it was all about reserving their energy for the bigger battles ahead for them. In the 68th minute, Honduras’s Carlos Mejia hit the crossbar with a powerful shot from outside the penalty box, which was the closest they came to scoring in the entire match.

As the referee blew the final whistle, Honduras would have been relieved to see that they had conceded only three goals in a game completely dominated by their rivals.